On Pick-Up Artists’ techne

I was checking out The Game book. It may be the expat loneliness, but a couple of expat friends came up independently singing the praise of that book and the whole pick-up artists / Venusian arts  movement.

Doesn’t it strike obvious and sad how much of our culture is shaped by and built on technology? It has become our basic way of thinking. When we’re faced with a problem, we invent a technology or a process to solve it. Techne has over taken episteme and poiesisin all aspects of our life.

Isn’t it sad? A technology to find a solution for love, like it’s a finite problem or a challenge to measure up your skills. Follow a set of practices and you get the girl (all girls you want, like they are collectible items). You’re done. Problem solved.

Can such a culture express a new Don Giovanni or Valentino? I fear not.

Ladders, Samurai and Blue Collars: Personal Branding in Web 2.0

Robert W. Gehl just published a very interesting article in First Monday, a peer-reviewed journal of cultural studies on the Internet.

Don’t be put off by the scholarly lexicon, it’s quite a fascinating read for everyone involved in social media and Web 2.0.

Abstract:

Drawing on the work of Gilles Deleuze, Eva Illouz, and Mark Andrejevic, this paper critiques the personal branding literature, particularly as it applies to Web 2.0 social media. I first describe the three–part logic of personal branding: dividuation, emotional capitalism, and autosurveillance. Next, in a sort of mirror image to the self–help literature of personal branding, I offer a critical “how to” guide to branding oneself in Web 2.0. Finally, I conclude with a discussion of why personal branding can be seen as a rational choice, given the circumstances of globalized capitalism and precarious employment. Individuals who brand themselves willfully adopt the logic of capitalism in order to build their human capital. However, I ultimately argue that the obsession with personal branding is no antidote for life in precarious times.